


To Fix What Has Been Broken

by DemonAngelSakina



Series: (untitled series of connected stories) [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: 80's slang, Aftercare, Candles, Found Family, Gen, Ghosts, I want this bathtub, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Mute Character(s), and all the love and care, bath bombs, cause one ghost died in the 1980's, follow-up to Aftermath, taking care of your summoner, their summoner needs a hug, these ghosts are trying, unseen ghost child character, vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:15:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26204803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemonAngelSakina/pseuds/DemonAngelSakina
Summary: Eventually...everything would be normal again, they just needed time for him to heal.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: (untitled series of connected stories) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2120061
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	To Fix What Has Been Broken

**Author's Note:**

> So...a friend of mine read over "Aftermath" (and advised I separate it from "Two's Good, Three's Better" since it's just a side-story) and texted me to, quote, "please write a follow-up so the cinnamon roll is being taken care of" and...well...I managed to bust this out during my lunch breaks at work.  
> It's not a perfect fix...but healing takes time.

Looking over at the blond-haired man curled up on the bed--having finally dozed off after so many fitful hours--and all that the ghostly highwayman could think about was how much he wanted to hunt down and execute the bastard vampire lord responsible for his summoner's suffering. In truth, the redhead was no "vengeful specter"--he had not been a cruel young man in life just as he was not such a beast in death--but, seeing the vampire, whom he considered as a very near and dear friend, suffering so much in the wake of that sick bastard's violation made the thief practically ache for the opportunity to wreck havoc on the one responsible.  
And he knew that he was not the only one.

Slowly--purposefully making certain that each bootstep made a noise on the hardwood floor so that the ghost did not startle the vampire--the highwayman approached the bed, reaching out a fingerless-gloved hand to gently tug the blankets back up and over his summoner's shoulder. He hated this...no, not taking care of his summoner--he was quite happy to take care of the one who had freed him from his imprisonment on the moors a half-century ago. No, what he hated was that someone had lured the vampire away from the phantoms that shadowed him, and then had violated the man's consent and his body. The knowledge that they had--as much as their summoner tried to assure them otherwise--failed to protect the vampire from the vampire lord who had harmed him, boiled the highwayman's non-existent blood as much as catching the bastard in the act itself had.

With a scowl, the tall, lean ghost turned to glance behind him as another of their little menagerie manifested into the room from the aether. "Evenin' Isabella. Time ta switch the watch?"

The Spanish phantom, eternally clad in a peasant's birthing gown, shook her head--her visible green eye dull and dark from her worry over the slumbering blond. Slowly, she approached--her bare feet practically gliding across the floor from how soundless she preferred to move--and came to stop at the edge of the bed to stare down at the vampire. After a moment, she turned her head just enough to regard the Scots-Irish ghost at her side before she looked back down at the vampire--tilting her head further as if to shield herself behind the waterfall of dark brown-black waves that swept around her face and down just past her shoulders.

"Isabella...I know we cann't off the bastard 'sponsible fer this, but...gotta be somethin' we can do fer Johnny."

Isabella turned back to look at the highwayman--tilting her head slightly to one side in thought--before she straightened to stare ahead fully. The highwayman frowned in thought, brushing back the thick fringe of his bushy fire-red hair from his own blue-green eyes--unable to stop himself from letting his gaze travel to the black 'ribbon' that hid the slash on his fellow ghost's throat. She had been assaulted not unlike their summoner had and, for now, the thief wondered how the silent spirit was dealing with all of this.  
She had been the first to join with Jean-Luc, more than a century ago, and was closest to the man all things considered.

_"Kieran. Watch over our summoner and I shall prepare a hot bath for him."_

The highwayman simply nodded--he wasn't sure himself how she managed to whisper-speak to him like that when the other mute member of their fellow phantoms could not...but had long since learned to not question the capabilities of any of the specters that followed the sleeping vampire. "Think Boss'd like some-a the fancy stuff with it? Like bubbles, candles, and all that?"

Isabella tapped a finger to her chin as if considering Kieran's suggestion, before she gave a short nod and vanished from the room. 

With a muted sigh, Kieran shifted his rain-cape and sat down on the edge of the bed to keep a closer watch over the blond on the bed--breathing out a second sigh of relief that the vampire was sleeping peacefully for the first time in weeks. The scent of fire and smoke in the room--something the highwayman could only vaguely perceive, and hoped would not awake their summoner--drew the thief's attention to the other side of the bed. "Evenin' Samuel. Isabella's off preppin' a hot bath fer the Boss."

The tall, muscle-bound form of the phantom blacksmith nodded--his body dominantly hidden by wafting trails of smoke and shifting shadows--and peered down the sleeping man. Kieran was no expert--even now--when it came to the dark skinned American, but even he knew the barely contained rage and--misplaced according to their summoner--guilt was practically engulfing the normally-gentle giant much like the mob's inferno had consumed his body and his life.

A flicker of infernal flame licked along the trails of smoke and shadow--highlighting ruined phantom flesh--only for Samuel to snuff the flame out before it could grow to consume him. The blacksmith slowly brought a hand--dominantly formed by the phantom smoke and shadows--and gently brushed the blond hair back from Jean-Luc's face much like one would do to a child.

"We all still agreein', right? Not lettin' lil' Alice see the Boss like this?"

Samuel raised his head--the single, visible fire-toned eye focusing on the the thief--then nodded. Kieran folded his arms beneath his rain-cape--at least that was a positive--and looked down at the vampire as the blacksmith continued his gentle petting of the man's pale golden hair, trying to reassure the sleeping vampire that he was safe with his ghosts.

All of the ghosts had agreed that the tiny child spirit should not be informed as to exactly what had happened to her 'papa'--as she referred to their summoner with the childish innocence only the youngest children could possess. The little girl was only six when she had fallen to her death with her killer and her mother after all--she would never be able to understand.  
At least the bride, Cassidy, was useful in keeping the child occupied while the rest of the ghosts tended to their summoner.

"Xianlian been 'round?" Kieran asked, looking back to the ghostly blacksmith...who merely shrugged his broad shoulders in response.

The Chinese specter--Kieran thought she was a demon really with how violent and dispassionately cruel she was to those who made the mistake of crossing her--had insisted on taking most of the watches while their summoner slept, keeping to the dark corners of the room in her white robes, just as Isabella had practically taken over assuring that the vampire would feed and take care of himself. However, in the last few days, the frigid teenaged-spirit had seemed more consumed with the need to seek out the one who had assaulted their summoner so that she could 'dance in his blood' after drawing and quartering the body with her hair.  
She still took her chosen watches...but aside from those moments, no one even so much as picked up the scent of 'blood-soaked damp earth' that followed her.

"Boss' sister come 'round?"

Samuel nodded at that--well, that was good, in it's own way, Kieran figured. It wasn't that the highwayman didn't like his summoner's younger sister--oh no, he liked Tristesse just fine when she wasn't being as much fun as a woolen blanket in a rainstorm--but, considering how she had practically needled at their summoner until Jean-Luc had finally cracked and come out of his denial as to what had happened to him...well. While all of them--minus Alice of course--had known the truth that the blond had been trying so hard to pretend was a lie, it had still hurt all of them--minus dear little Alice whom Xianlian had sent away with Cassidy as soon as Tristesse had begun to question Jean-Luc on the events from the inn--to see their summoner collapse in on himself to his knees and weep into his sister's shoulder as she--despite slipping into a panic at the sight of her older brother falling apart--fell with him and wrapped him up in her arms.

On one hand, the denial had not been doing their summoner any favors...on the other, well, none of them ever wanted to see the vampire--a gentleman and a gentle man--hurting so much and, while grateful that Tristesse had gotten through to Jean-Luc, that did not mean that any of them were happy that their summoner had to be hurt further to force him out of his denial.

Kieran shifted the manifested chew-stick from one side of his lips to the other. "Think we'll be allowed to tear the bastard who did this apart, Sam?"

Samuel stilled his gentle petting of the vampire's hair and glanced at the black-clad highwayman and gave a stiff gesture of a hand--they may want to tear the vampire lord apart for harming their summoner, but none of them knew if they would be allowed to or not.  
Tristesse had said something about how she would 'handle things'.

Before Kieran could say another word, Isabella manifested at the foot of the bed--the mute phantom's lips quirking only the barest amount at the corners before she gestured to their summoner's en-suite bathroom with one hand.

_"Samuel, could you wake Jean-Luc and carry him to the bathing chamber? Kieran...go retrieve a good feed of blood for him. Something sweet this time."_

"Sam gets asked and I get ordered?" Kieran said, one brow arched in affronted surprise...and at odds with the playful grin on his lips. The female spirit rolled her eyes as the soft noise of the vampire being woken up--followed by the equally soft rustling of the bedding as the blacksmith helped the drowsy blond to sit upright. Blinking the sleep from his eyes, Jean-Luc turned his dulled crimson gaze to each of the three ghosts at his bedsides.

"What...may I ask what exactly is going on?"

"Isabella's got a hot bath waitin' for ya, Boss...and I'm gonna hop off and get ya a little somethin' sweet to drink." Kieran said with a wide grin before the highwayman took a bow--flicking one of the edges of his rain-cape aside with one hand, not unlike a performer on a stage--before he straightened and vanished from the room.

Jean-Luc blinked slowly and looked at the two mute spirits in confusion...before letting out a surprised yelp as he was lifted from his bed and carried to his bathroom by the blacksmith--Isabella immediately trailing behind them after giving the mussed bed a short, displeased look.

"Isabella...I do not think that you need to change the bedding again. You put new bedclothes on it before I went to sleep."

The female spirit gave a small shrug, but would most likely do whatever she pleased--after all...someone needed to make certain that their summoner was well taken care of when he had little will to do the tasks himself.

Samuel dropped the vampire's legs--keeping one shadowy arm braced around Jean-Luc to help the blond get his footing--once they had entered the bathroom. Isabella appeared next to the blond and gestured back into the bedroom--earning a resigned shift of smoke and shadow from the blacksmith who vanished from the bathroom, the door easing shut without anyone touching it. Isabella stepped closer--taking a moment to brush her fingers over and through the pale locks in an attempt to arrange the vampire's mid-back-length hair into some semblance of order.

Jean-Luc inhaled only to let out a quiet sigh as the specter began to undo the buttons at his collar. "Isabella...I just wish to sleep."

Isabella simply nodded and stepped away...but gestured to the steam rising from the water in the partially-sunken Roman-style bathtub--several rosewood and sandalwood-scented candles set up along the corners of the tub, casting the room in a soft, oddly comforting light. _"You have been in bed all day and part of the night. You need to clean yourself and feed, Jean-Luc."_

With a quiet, resigned sigh, Jean-Luc stripped away his sleeping clothes--not even batting an eye when the female ghost held out her hands to take the clothing to be cleaned properly--and stepped into the tub. Slowly the vampire settled into the hot water, leaning his head back against the...folded up towel at the rim?  
Jean-Luc blinked and sat up to look at the towel before looking back at the specter who merely raised her eyebrow and encouraged him to lay back and rest.

After a moment, the blond's eyes closed--the heat of the water easing the tension in his muscles that even sleep had failed to rid him of. Jean-Luc cracked his eyes open when he heard a soft noise--opening his eyes fully to watch as the ghost finished rifling through the hutch-like cabinet that held all of his toiletries and such. "What are you looking for, Isabella?"

Isabella merely looked at her summoner before approaching the tub once more, carrying one of the collection of--what were they called? Oh, right--'bath bombs' that his queen had given him as a "you need to spoil yourself" 'care package' a few months ago. The female ghost merely held the shimmery purple and blue orb in her hands...before she set it just the above the water and dropped it in.

The female ghost let the corner of her lips tilt up into a small smile--or what could pass as a smile for her these days--as she watched her summoner relaxing into the shimmering, lilac-colored, jasmine and rose-scented water. She turned to the other candles that she had set up on the counter of the sink--a scowl forming for a moment when she realized that she had used up all of the matches that she could previously find, on the candles around the tub.  
As if reading her thoughts, Samuel appeared partially through the door and waved one shadowy hand--the wicks of the candles igniting and adding to the warm light of the room. Isabella gave the blacksmith a look, that he returned before he vanished back through the closed door.

Isabella returned to her summoner's side--making note that she had all of his bathing supplies close at hand--and gently stroked her hand over the vampire's forehead. _"Is everything to your liking, Jean-Luc?"_

"Oui, Isabella." Jean-Luc said--turning his crimson eyes up to the ghost. "Thank you...I...I know that I have not been the best..."

Isabella placed a cold finger to the vampire's lips to stop the apology that he did not need to give. Isabella sat herself down on the rim of the tub and gently stroked her fingers through her summoner's fine golden hair, encouraging him to simply lie back, relax, and let the dead souls take care of him.

An unseen frown formed on Isabella's face as she kept watch over the vampire as he dozed off, lulled into comfort by the scented water and candles--no one had been there for her when the bastard she had worked for had violated her, stolen the baby he'd placed within her then murdered her...she would be there for her summoner.  
All of them would be.

The female ghost glanced up when the bathroom door opened once more to admit the highwayman--Kieran's lips quirked into a sly grin around his chew-stick as he set a folded set of lounging clothes on the vanity counter nearest to the sink. "No worries, luv. Cassidy told me what to pick--"

At the mention of her, the pale-skinned American bride popped her head around the the door frame--her dark brown hair braided and pinned up beneath her puffy veil, blue eyes narrowed in annoyance at the redhead before she turned a bright smile onto Isabella and giving a decidedly peppy little wave of one hand. "No worries, homegirl. I made sure Space Cadet here, got somethin' that wasn't, like, totally barf bag."

The two older spirits shared a vague look--the way that the bride talked sometimes--before Kieran shrugged in a way that was far too telling of how long ago he had given up on trying to decipher the 'slang' that the bride used. "I got the blood too. Little somethin' special--type O."

The highwayman trotted over--purposefully letting his boots clack on the marble tile--and bent over to pass the medicinal bag to his summoner with his usual grin. Jean-Luc reached out to take the bag before... "I...I have not seen much of Alice in the last few days. Is...is she well?"

"Totally." Cassidy chimed in before either Isabella or Kieran could speak. "Rugrat's with your sis right now. I think they were playing, like, checkers? Yeah--was totally checkers. Like, the big set with the rug for the mat and the hockey puck size pieces and all. Hey...was checkers, like, even a thing when--"

Before the bride could say another word, one of Samuel's shadowy hands came over and grabbed her arm and pulled the youngest spirit away...as the Chinese specter manifested at the door frame--her head bowed so that her long, stringy black hair hung over the bandages covering where her eyes had once been. "The bedding is changed."

With that, the white-clad Xianlian vanished into the aether to wherever she stayed when she was not watching over her summoner. Samuel went passed the door frame, dragging the complaining bride into the aether as well. Kieran shrugged his shoulders at the sight before... "Welp...guess that'd be my cue to go keep the shite at bay. Need anythin', just do the thing, Isabella."

The highwayman grinned and vanished--Jean-Luc, despite his years working with spirits, had no idea what 'the thing' was that allowed the specters that worked with him to always appear when one needed the other. Slowly, Jean-Luc looked up at Isabella...as the ghost flicked her hand to close the door back so that her summoner had his privacy.

The Spanish ghost looked back down at her summoner and nodded, helping him lie back once more as she pushed the little straw into the hole on the bag.  
Eventually...everything would be normal again, they just needed time for him to heal.

**Author's Note:**

> Jean-Luc is healing...but healing takes time.  
> He has his found family to care for him, so no worries.


End file.
